Effect of operating conditions on the performance of adsorption solar cooling run by solar collectors

Adsorption solar cooling appears to have prospect in the tropical countries. The present study investigates the effect of operating conditions on the performance of solar powered adsorption chiller for the climatic condition of Dhaka (Latitude 23 degrees 46'N, Longitude 90 degrees 23'E). A set of mathematical equations has been utilized to investigate the performance of the system numerically. Based on the solar radiation data, it is seen that at least 13 collectors (each of area 2.42m(2)) are essential to achieve the required heat source temperature in the hot and humid months. It appeared during the investigation that the unit provides the cooling capacity around 10 kW at noon with base run conditions, while the system provide the solar COP around 0.35. As the cycle time has a major effect on heat source temperature as well as on system performance, it is observed that there is an optimum cycle time for the collector size. Also, the performance of the chiller can be improved by controlling the chilled water flow rates. Therefore, it may be concluded that the collector size may be reduced by setting the optimum cycle time and the chilled water flow rate. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.